


What If You Knew

by vivaforever597



Category: Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 23:58:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7013890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivaforever597/pseuds/vivaforever597
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aileen's always been Zack's confidante, but she's spent the whole time hiding her own feelings. Unrequited Aileen/Zack, background Zack/Tatyanna.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What If You Knew

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those cases of two things coming together in my head and leading to me writing a fic to combine them. In this case: I've shipped Zack/Aileen for a while, but rewatching Rules of the Game last night led me to actually ship Zack/Tatyanna, which I haven't shipped since I reached the point where I actually thought about my ships and didn't just go with whatever was most canon. And I've been listening to Gabriella Cilmi's Ten album, one of my favorites from which is [What If You Knew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ_pL-1bMAQ):
> 
> _How could you ask for my advice  
>  About those other girls you like?  
> Don't you know I know you better than they do?  
> Even though I made you smile  
> Maybe I'm just in denial_
> 
> _What if you knew  
>  Your best friend is in love with you?  
> Would you go or would you stay?  
> If I just knew how to say  
> Your best friend is in love with you_
> 
> So of course these things intersected to give me Aileen giving Zack advice about Tatyanna while hiding her own crush on him.

"Hey, Aileen." Zack plopped down on the couch next to her in the Acme lounge. "Got a minute?"

Aileen willed herself not to blush - no matter how much time she spent with him, it always seemed to be her body's natural response. "For you? Of course." She immediately winced, realizing too late that she might have been too open about her feelings.

"Oh, good. Thanks," Zack replied. She resisted rolling her eyes. She should have known not to worry about being too open: Zack was so myopic when it came to girls that she probably could have kissed him and he wouldn't have gotten the point. "So I was thinking," Zack continued.

"Always dangerous," Aileen interrupted teasingly, drawing a grin from him.

"You know how Tatyanna's going to be in town this weekend..."

"I'm aware," Aileen said dryly. "You've mentioned it once or twice. A day."

Zack actually blushed. "Well, I was thinking maybe I should... you know, actually ask her out."

Aileen sighed. "Zack, is this going to be any different from the half a dozen times you've tried asking her out before?"

"Hey!" Zack protested. "I, uh - I had other things get in my way before!"

Aileen raised her eyebrows and took a swig from her pop bottle. "Like your intense shyness around girls you like?" Once she would have grimaced inwardly, knowing that she was right about his shyness, and that it meant he couldn't like her since he was so open with her. But she'd come to terms with it.

"Well, yeah." Zack looked down at his hands. "But I really like her."

"I know," Aileen said, not able to keep some of the sadness out of her voice.

"I just wish I could tell if she'd want to go out," he whined.

Aileen stared at him. "Zack," she said incredulously. "You can't tell? Of course she likes you. What do you think she's always talking about with Ivy, judo?"

"Hey, it's possible!" Zack protested.

Aileen smiled and shook her head. "Can we skip right to the end? Yes, Zack, I think you should get your courage up and finally ask her out before she decides _you_ 're not interested."

"Oh, yeah, that's true," he said, as if it was his first time thinking of it and she hadn't pointed it out on numerous other occasions. "I guess... yeah, I can do it!"

Aileen smiled weakly. "I'm sure you can, Zack."

Zack giggled triumphantly. "Thanks, Aileen. You're the best!" He leaned over to kiss her cheek before getting up.

She watched him go, then touched her cheek where he'd kissed her, more than a bit sadly. It was sweet that they were close enough for him to give her a platonic kiss like that, but knowing that it was only platonic...

She didn't have any right to criticize him for never managing to voice his feelings, she thought. She was no better.


End file.
